SECRETS BETWEEN US

[Welcome to the SSS-level dungeon: “Wish.”]

[Please choose your cause of death.]

The moment I landed in the horror game and reunited with my teammates, a strange man appeared in front of us.

Thick black mist coiled around his head, hiding his face. His whole presence felt… wrong.

“Shit!” the guy with dyed yellow hair cursed.

“What kind of sick prank is this?

You think a few cheap effects will scare me? Nice try!”

He’d been cursing nonstop since the game started. No matter how the veteran players in our group tried to explain, he was convinced we were all in on some elaborate scam.

Now, glaring furiously, he marched right up to the stranger and shoved him.

“I’m warning you! Let me out of here, or I’ll— What the hell?!”

His hand went straight through the man’s body.

He stumbled back, eyes wide, staring at his hand in horror—only to watch it dissolve into a red mist before his eyes.

“Wh-what’s happening?

“Help me! Please—someone help me!”

He cried and crawled toward us, desperate to escape. But within seconds, his whole body burst apart, blood and flesh splattering across the ground.

The system’s cold, mechanical voice echoed in the air:

[Death count: 1]

[Current survivors: 7]

[Keep up the good work, players!]

The strange man never moved an inch. He simply repeated in that same flat tone:

“Welcome to the SSS-level dungeon: ‘Wish.’

Please choose your cause of death.”

Just when everyone was at a total loss, glowing text suddenly scrolled across the air like a livestream chat.

[Damn, these players are seriously unlucky. “Wish” has a zero percent clear rate—hardest dungeon ever recorded.]

[The boss grants each player’s wish... but always in the most horrifying, twisted way possible.]

[As soon as players enter, they face the final boss. It forces everyone to “wish” for the way they’ll die, then “mercifully” makes that wish come true.]

[To survive, you have to find the one correct wish.]

[Even top-tier players have failed this one. These newbies don’t look like much—how long do you think they’ll last?]

After watching the guy with yellow hair explode right in front of us, no one dared to move.

The silence was suffocating, stretching on and on.

Finally, the boss lost patience.

Its cold, distorted voice echoed through the darkness.

“Since none of you have a wish,” it said, “I’ll choose for you.”

A massive scythe appeared from the black mist behind it.

“Wait! Wait!”

A middle-aged man suddenly yelled.

“I—I have one! I know how I want to die!”

Everyone turned toward him.

He swallowed hard and said carefully,

“I choose to die peacefully of old age, no sickness, no pain.”

The words had barely left his mouth before everyone’s eyes lit up.

Someone gave him a thumbs-up. “Smart move, man.”

The boss lowered its scythe.

“As you wish.”

The middle-aged man exhaled, a relieved smile spreading across his face.

One by one, the others chimed in:

“Same for me! I want to die peacefully of old age too!”

The boss’s voice stayed cold and flat.

“As you wish.”

Relief spread through the group. People even started laughing and chatting.

“Good thing Pete thought of that! What a lifesaver.”

“Yeah, the boss can’t touch us now. Guess we’ve already won!”